Many beautiful people present themselves on social media – and they all have seemingly flawless, wrinkle-free skin. How this is achieved can also be seen on social media: So-called skinfluencers – from skin and influencers – show their daily skin care routine and introduce products that can be used to tackle problem areas on the face. And as with many internet trends, young people and children imitate this.
For example, on Tiktok and Instagram, girls of primary school age are already presenting their beauty routine: cleansing their faces, then dabbing on a serum and massaging in an anti-aging cream. In other videos, you can see young people putting cosmetic products in their shopping baskets in drugstores and raving about their benefits. But experts warn against the cosmetics trend in which children imitate adults.
“A new whining zone”
This is particularly pronounced in the USA, says brand management professor Karsten Kilian from the Technical University of Würzburg-Schweinfurt. “But even in Germany, younger and younger girls are reaching for products that they don’t need and that weren’t made for them,” says the expert. A whole new whining zone has emerged in drugstores: instead of asking for sweets, children are now asking their parents for beauty products.
Expert Kerstin Etzenbach-Effers from the North Rhine-Westphalia Consumer Advice Center is particularly critical of ingredients such as retinol, fruit acids or vitamin C. These could cause skin irritation, inflammation and eczema in children, she warns. Compared to adults, children have, among other things, a weaker skin barrier and an immune system that is still developing. “This makes their skin more susceptible to external irritants, environmental factors and allergens.” Some anti-aging creams also contain UV filters, which are suspected of damaging the hormonal system.
Counterproductive for acne
Less is more – this is especially true for skin care for children and adolescents: Children’s skin does not need any care at all – unless the child has a skin disease, says Munich dermatologist Christoph Liebich. “For adolescents with acne, a rich anti-aging care product would actually encourage pimples.” The expert from the German Dermatological Society, Christiane Bayerl, takes a similar view. “Anti-aging products are completely unnecessary, but not dangerous for children’s skin.” Caution is particularly advised during puberty. Too much care and poor makeup removal can lead to blemishes.
Würzburg expert Kilian sees further risks: “The focus on external appearance can lead to a distorted self-image, a lack of self-confidence and low self-esteem. In social terms, the cosmetics trend promotes traditional role models among children, especially the stereotypical representation of girls and women,” he says.
Role playing is normal
It is completely normal for girls to try out their mother’s lipstick, high heels and dresses or to slip into other roles with the help of a children’s make-up kit and costumes. Children’s make-up, children’s fragrances or lip balms with colour are then perceived as toys like crayons or balloons, says Bayerl. “There is nothing wrong with that.”
According to a study by the German Personal Care and Detergent Industry Association (IKW) among 14- to 21-year-olds, they are now interested in cosmetics at an early age. Behind this is the need to counteract a perceived loss of control that they experience in many areas of their daily lives – for example due to puberty or stress at school, says IKW expert Birgit Huber. “Controlling their appearance and modifying it according to their own wishes gives young people security in these situations. They get their inspiration mainly from social media.”
Pocket money is spent on cosmetics
Kilian believes it is problematic that skinfluencers demonstrate skincare products on their channels and that children and young people want to emulate their idols. As a result, they sometimes spend a considerable amount of their pocket money on cosmetics and spend more and more time on grooming and applying make-up. “This creates a false idea of beauty,” he says. And partly also of what is natural.
Heavy make-up, photo editing, perfect lighting – all of this means that people with spots or other small blemishes are rare on social media. However, this means that one’s own spot is perceived as a much bigger problem, says Munich dermatologist Liebich. At the same time, in his practice he sees young people following internet tips with great willingness, trying out countless products against acne and then despairing that they don’t work. “But the children are more convinced by the knowledge they are given on Tiktok than by the specialist,” says Liebich. “This is where persuasion has to be done.”
Is age information on cosmetics useful?
Bayerl finds instructions from the Internet for mixing your own face creams particularly tricky. “Nothing happens if you use them fresh,” says the director of the Clinic for Dermatology and Allergology at the Helios Dr. Horst Schmidt Clinics in Wiesbaden. However, the creams are not preserved and can quickly become infected with germs that can cause skin inflammation. “I would be cautious with ‘make your own cosmetics’. I think that is very dangerous for children.”
Would age information on care products be useful to prevent children from using cosmetics that are not intended for them? No, says consumer advocate Etzenbach-Effers. “Anti-aging products are clearly not made for children.” It is also questionable who checks whether the age limit is being adhered to – which has long been in place for oxidation hair dyes, for example, at 16 years of age. “Children should be made to understand that they are just right the way they are and do not need cosmetic products to be beautiful. That would have more impact than an age limit,” she says.
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